Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

One of the great trends were seeing at ITSMA is increased automation of the lead process. But this trend has an unintended side effect: it exposes our content development processes (or lack thereof). That metric is going to be critically important as we automate the lead process because nurturing is marketing’s special sauce.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Planning Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 6, 2009

One of the great trends were seeing at ITSMA is increased automation of the lead process. But this trend has an unintended side effect: it exposes our content development processes (or lack thereof). That metric is going to be critically important as we automate the lead process because nurturing is marketing’s special sauce.

Planning 100

Planning B2B Thought Leadership Paid Search Agency Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 10, 2014

Even if you interview external experts who don’t even work for your company and do not pay them and quote them word for word in your company’s materials just like a journalist does – no self-promotion at all. The best idea marketing is conceived, funded, created, and disseminated by a commercial interest in a commercial goal.

Branding 100

Branding Brand Identity Intent Positioning 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 15, 2010

During one of the first few days I went to work at CIO magazine in 1995, I had what we called a “vendor visit”—one of many I would have in the coming years. In his mind, I shouldn’t even have been working there. If we automate the processes that matter, the metrics we need will be staring us in the face. What am I paying for?

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Marketing Automation Services 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 8, 2009

So I’m looking for two things: stories about ways to do things better and stories about how you’ve kept your sanity and sense of humor at work during these times. Posted in Marketing Strategy Tagged: B2B marketing, ITSMA, Marketing Processes, Marketing Strategy, social media strategy. How are you surviving these times?

Practices 100

Practices Best Practices Paid Search Agency Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

One of the reasons I know that B2B marketers get this is because the number one goal of marketers in our survey was to integrate social media into the larger marketing strategy —to link social media to their idea marketing process and their events—the channels that are proven and where the business has committed to contributing content.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media Peer-to-peer 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 7, 2011

One of the reasons I know that B2B marketers get this is because the number one goal of marketers in our survey was to integrate social media into the larger marketing strategy —to link social media to their idea marketing process and their events—the channels that are proven and where the business has committed to contributing content.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media Peer-to-peer 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 18, 2011

They want more strategic answers, such as whether marketing is increasing the velocity of contacts through the buying process and reducing the time and effort that salespeople need to expend in making a sale. One great way to connect ideas to offerings is to create a business theme—think IBM’s Smarter Planet or Cognizant’s Future of Work.

Work Management 100

Work Management Thought Leadership Marketing Management Paper 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 8, 2009

So I’m looking for two things: stories about ways to do things better and stories about how you’ve kept your sanity and sense of humor at work during these times. Tags: Marketing Strategy B2B marketing ITSMA Marketing Processes social media strategy. How are you doing that? What else are you doing to improve marketing?

Practices 100

Practices Best Practices Paid Search Agency Marketing & Strategy 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

For example, we’ve long thought that CIOs in smaller organizations are hamstrung by a lack of discretionary budget to work with, small staffs, and a lack of access to the CEO in the business. Since I did the original archetypes work at CIO, they’ve morphed a little bit. We came up with some interesting insights.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 7, 2009

For example, we’ve long thought that CIOs in smaller organizations are hamstrung by a lack of discretionary budget to work with, small staffs, and a lack of access to the CEO in the business. Since I did the original archetypes work at CIO, they’ve morphed a little bit. We came up with some interesting insights.

Planning 100

Planning Segmentation Work Management Gartner 100

Chris Koch

MAY 20, 2011

Marketers need to facilitate a process for internal development of ideas and for external feedback. Here are some examples of how this can work: Internal. Marketers need to help create that culture in the company by facilitating the idea process. Knowledge share sessions.

Social Media 100

Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Media Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Of course, devising those incentives, putting them in place, and driving the cultural change necessary to make them stick is a maddeningly complex process that helps keep consultants and academics in business. Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services B2B Sales Consulting Marketing Automation 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

One client summed it up by saying that there are two points of resistance in the process of bringing new things to market. The first comes at the beginning of the process—the “why” battle—where everyone takes pot shots at the new idea. It’s tough to work your butt off on something that you’re not sure about.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

One client summed it up by saying that there are two points of resistance in the process of bringing new things to market. The first comes at the beginning of the process—the “why” battle—where everyone takes pot shots at the new idea. It’s tough to work your butt off on something that you’re not sure about.

Research 100

Research Service Product Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 5, 2010

Unless the company they work for is a startup or otherwise desperate for attention, these people tend to be ground down by the risk management aspect of their jobs over time. The process is incredibly expensive and inefficient. They would work hard to get CIOs and subject matter experts to agree to talk to me in an open way.

PR 100

PR Press Paid Search Agency Lead Ranking 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 22, 2011

I think this means that marketing must be ready to take a larger role in facilitating the innovation process and in being the ears to the ground on all the innovation that’s happening externally to organizations out there on the internet. CMOs can succeed where CIOs struggled. So the question is, will CMOs step up to the innovation challenge?

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management Work Management Marketing Management Social Media 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Of course, devising those incentives, putting them in place, and driving the cultural change necessary to make them stick is a maddeningly complex process that helps keep consultants and academics in business. Surveys work particularly well for assuring customers that the information they’re getting is more than a veiled sales pitch.

Marketing Automation Services 100

Marketing Automation Services Consulting B2B Sales Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 21, 2011

What this means for marketers is that social media have increased buyers’ expectations for intimacy at all stages of the buying process. We have built intimacy into the later stages of the buying process. This is not how it usually works. And this is where the scale issue comes in.

Social Media 100

Social Media Budget Programs Paper PR 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 25, 2009

Social media disrupts marketing structures and processes. Hierarchical structures and linear processes work fine because everything has a timeline and a beginning, middle, and end (launch). Developing a personal understanding of how it all works will make it less disruptive. Marketing and business are joined at the hip.

Social Media 100

Social Media Paid Search Agency Social Marketing B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 10, 2009

Thought leadership marketing is based on the academic research publishing model, in which academics created journals built around a peer review process. It is staffed by editors who work exclusively for McKinsey and are not academics. See what you think of my answers: How did thought leadership initiatives in companies begin?

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Work Management 100

Chris Koch

APRIL 2, 2010

Those two things are built into the process. Even making a cat more like a person works.) It’s why those expensive private events work so well. (Hey, it was the best thing we came up with at the meeting, so why wouldn’t customers like it, too!?). Where are thepeople and the stories? Twitter , LinkedIn, etc. all do that, too.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership B2B Marketing Marketing Budget Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

JULY 10, 2009

He argues that putting a data form in front of a prospect displays a lack of confidence in the quality of our work and at worst drives people into the arms of competitors. Sync your content to the stages of the buying process. Stop collecting this data. Title (totally meaningless and a prime reason to lie).

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 B2B Thought Leadership Ideal Customer Profiles Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

DECEMBER 18, 2009

Social media seems better suited to B2C, with its larger scale and simpler buying process. This is why every B2B company should be moving into social media to start the process of building the skills and making the broad cultural changes needed to make social media work. With good reason. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Social Media 100

Social Media Peer-to-peer Social Marketing B2B Marketing 100

Chris Koch

AUGUST 13, 2010

The first review I saw listed under the search was entitled, “OK to work for, but watch your back.” In a piece on SiliconValley.com, they interviewed the CEO of Glassdoor, who was able to offer an assessment of Hurd’s reign based on over 1000 reviews of people who work there. We need a process and people for reaching out to them.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media B2B SME 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 26, 2010

Okay, so you need to work for IBM to access it, but Skribit is available to the rest of us.). And target that content to all of the stages of the buying process so that anyone encountering your content will find something that speaks to them personally. Get ideas from customers. Filter research. Hire a content director. Buddy them up.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership RSS Enterprise Management Thought Leadership 100

Chris Koch

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

The publishing model of ads next to content won’t work, of course. The two have to work together to create themes that are thoughtful and that are about getting readers interested—it’s about leading the horse to the idea marketing bucket. What does it mean? A new way to make idea marketing relevant. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership B2B Thought Leadership Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 12, 2010

Think of the traditional PR process as a supply chain with four steps: Subject matter expert identification and preparation. PR works to identify people in the organization who would be good representatives of the company, its value, and its offerings. Those people may receive media training, presentation and speaking training, etc.

PR 100

PR Peer-to-peer Press Public Relations 100

Chris Koch

MARCH 12, 2010

Though it has become a generic term, customer intimacy was first coined by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema who worked at CSC/Index back in the 90s when I was a thought leadership marketer there. Rooted in Michael Porter’s timeless work in business strategy, Treacy and Wiersema took it a step further with their three “value disciplines.”.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Thought Leadership Work Management 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

It has also changed the scope of our content process, as Jon Miller points out here. Thinking about a pricing model for content also helps us target our content to the specific segments of the buying process. Even if the New York Times’ pay wall works, it will fail (trueslant.com). Mobile raises the price. How about you?

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JANUARY 29, 2010

It has also changed the scope of our content process, as Jon Miller points out here. Thinking about a pricing model for content also helps us target our content to the specific segments of the buying process. Even if the New York Times’ pay wall works, it will fail (trueslant.com). Mobile raises the price. How about you?

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking Lead Scoring B2B Thought Leadership Mobile Advertising 100

Chris Koch

JUNE 5, 2009

In the court of public opinion, customers make a decision about whether the company as a whole is to blame for the crisis or whether the crisis was the work of a few rogue individuals acting outside the norms of behavior. Alter the brand enough to signal a new era.

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Companies Work Management Ethics 100

Chris Koch

JULY 16, 2010

I can’t name the specific companies because we’re still in the midst of the judging process, but it doesn’t really matter because the stuff is so innovative. Through intense screening and prepping of attendees and a tightly managed agenda of facilitation, they take these executives out of their work lives for an entire week to think together.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer Wikipedia 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 6, 2009

The winners get serious recognition for their work that helps their companies and their careers. Of course, knowing the metrics before you start also makes the data gathering process much easier. Everybody wins with the MEAs. If you haven’t considered creating an awards program for your target customers, you should.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership Thought Leadership Budget Programs Business 100

Chris Koch

MAY 21, 2010

I don’t know what schools they went to, or where they worked before their current jobs, but I know what they think about B2B marketing and I have re-tweeted their stuff and I know they’re smart. It’s a gradual process—the currency of which is trust and exchange of value. What do you think? Tweet This Post.

Privacy 100

Privacy B2B Marketing Lead Ranking B2B 100

Chris Koch

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Thanks to Kent Huffman for giving me a great starting point for this post): Invite employees into the process. Employees may feel passionately about the possibility of life on other planets, but unless they work for NASA, it’s probably not worth getting into on a blog. But don’t provide them with a blank slate.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Guidelines B2B 100

Chris Koch

OCTOBER 1, 2010

It’s a warm-up for the great dialogues we’ll be having at MarketingProfs’ SocialTech conference later this month in San Jose, where I’ll be speaking about social media and the B2B buying process. Content is replacing salespeople in the earliest stages of the buying process. It works.). I can’t wait. traditional media companies.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Social Media B2B Thought Leadership Peer-to-peer 100